The essay strand of a university-level Creative Writing entry, argued and written by hand in a two-hour supervised sitting and marked afterwards out of 100.
Creative Writing – Essay Writing is the prose-argument strand of a three-part Creative Writing entry on a Punjab-region university zonal youth festival format. Each student composes an essay by hand on a subject given on the day, in a supervised sitting, and the finished script is marked afterwards. Nothing is spoken or performed. The source rules treat Creative Writing as one entry made up of a poem, a short story and an essay, each judged and awarded separately, and eTalenter models those strands as three items. This page covers the essay strand only.
The template gives the item a total sitting of 120 minutes, recorded as one total rather than a live stage clock, with no warning bell. It runs as an Individual competition for both genders in the Students band, is scored out of 100 marks, and leaves the language open, so the festival’s own notice decides which language or languages may be used.
A round looks like a written examination. Entrants sit together, receive the topic and paper at the same moment, and write with nothing prepared in advance. Scripts are collected when time is called and passed to the judges. Two hours is enough to choose an angle, outline, draft and copy out a clean final version, so judges can reasonably expect a developed argument with an introduction, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion rather than a list of loosely connected points.
It is not the same item as the plain Essay Writing found on school, Kerala university and diaspora templates, which carries its own time limits and age bands, and it is not Elocution or Debate, which are spoken. Organisers keep it on a youth festival programme because a whole cohort can write in one hall under one invigilator with no stage time to schedule, and it gives analytical writers a place beside the poem and story strands.
Where Creative Writing – Essay Writing is run
Within eTalenter’s templates this item appears on one template, a Punjab-region university zonal youth festival format, where it sits in the Literacy category after the Poem Writing and Short Story Writing strands. The separately named Essay Writing item used by many school, university and community templates is a different row. This page claims only what the template data records.
- India (Punjab university zonal youth festival)
Key facts
- Individual competition, open to both genders, in the Students band.
- Written, off-stage item in the Literacy category: marked from the script, not watched live.
- Total sitting of 120 minutes, recorded as a single total with no warning bell.
- Scored out of 100 marks.
- One of three Creative Writing strands on the same template: poem, short story and essay, each judged separately.
- Language is not fixed by the template, so check the festival’s own rules.
On eTalenter, Creative Writing – Essay Writing is filed under Literacy and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Creative Writing – Essay Writing is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 120 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Creative Writing – Essay Writing
What a Creative Writing – Essay Writing panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Thesis: a clear position or central idea stated early and kept in view, rather than a topic described from every side without a point.
- Structure: an introduction that frames the subject, body paragraphs that each carry one idea, and a conclusion that actually concludes.
- Evidence: specific examples, facts or experiences that support the argument instead of general statements repeated.
- Depth: with two hours available, judges expect more than a surface treatment, including a counter-point or a consideration of consequences.
- Language: accurate grammar, controlled sentence length and a formal but readable tone from the first line to the last.
- Relevance and finish: staying on the set topic, sensible paragraphing and a legible final copy.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Creative Writing – Essay Writing under Scoring Setup, or start from the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Creative Writing – Essay Writing
How entrants and their teachers usually get Creative Writing – Essay Writing right on the day:
- Rehearse the full 120 minutes: roughly 15 minutes planning, 80 writing, 15 copying neatly and 10 rereading.
- Write a one-line thesis and three supporting points before drafting, so the essay has a spine.
- Collect a bank of adaptable examples on common themes such as education, technology, environment and society, and practise slotting them in.
- Practise openings on unfamiliar topics so a surprise subject does not freeze you.
- Read well-edited opinion pieces in your chosen language to study how paragraphs build an argument.
- Use the final minutes to fix missing words and sharpen the last paragraph rather than adding new points.
Ready-made event templates that include Creative Writing – Essay Writing
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| PTU Zonal Youth Festival | Literacy | Marks | 1 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Creative Writing – Essay Writing judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Creative Writing – Essay Writing the same as Essay Writing?
Not on eTalenter’s data. Essay Writing is a separate item used by many templates with its own time limits and age bands; this one is the essay strand of a three-part Creative Writing entry with a 120-minute sitting for university students.
How long do entrants get?
The template allows 120 minutes in total for the sitting, with no warning bell.
Is it a solo or a team competition?
Solo. Each entrant writes their own essay; the Creative Writing entry as a whole has one participant per strand.
What are the other Creative Writing strands?
Poem Writing and Short Story Writing, each judged and awarded separately, with the same 120-minute sitting and 100-mark scale on this template.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full essay & story writing judging criteria guide, or browse every literacy competition item.
Try Creative Writing – Essay Writing in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Creative Writing – Essay Writing, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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